SELLINSGROVE, Pa. – The Catholic men's basketball team traveled to Susquehanna on Wednesday night in the first of two road games this week for the team. Despite an electric rally from a 16-point halftime deficit to leading late in the second half, the Cardinals lost in a thriller against the River Hawks at the buzzer in overtime, 81-79.
Coming out of the halftime break trailing 39-23, the Cardinals quickly found some momentum with
CJ Ruoff knocking down a pair of threes, followed by layups from
Matthew Gorman and
Charley Hepting to cut the deficit to six with 16 minutes remaining. Catholic continued to chip away at the Susquehanna lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the half and Gorman came up with another bucket to make it a 51-50 lead. On the next possession,
Peter Gellene hit a jumper to give the Cardinals their first lead since the 13:03 mark in the first half at 52-51. After trailing 61-57 with just under four minutes left in regulation, the Cardinals went on a 9-2 spurt with baskets from Ruoff, Hepting and Gellene to take a 66-63 lead with 1:03 left. Catholic held a 68-63 advantage with 14 seconds left, but Susquehanna made a pair of threes, one in the final seconds, to force overtime tied at 69.
The game remained tightly played throughout overtime but a couple free throws from Gorman put the Cardinals on top 79-75 in the final 90 seconds of overtime. The River Hawks found the answers down the stretch however, closing the game out on a 6-0 run including a game-winning layup from KJ Carson at the buzzer to close out a two-point win for Susquehanna.
Susquehanna was extremely effective from the field in the first half of the action, going 15-for-24 (63 percent) from the floor with four makes from deep. The River Hawks also used a 20-3 run during the half to help open up a double digit lead. Catholic also shot just 35 percent from the floor throughout the first half with just one make from downtown to trail 39-23 at the break.
The Cardinals fell to 16-6 with the loss and are now 12-3 in conference play, still holding a one game lead in the Landmark standings.
Ruoff led the Cardinals in scoring throughout the game, finishing with 28 points with five makes from deep. Gellene once again shined off the bench for Catholic with 18 points and Gorman finished with a career-high in both points and rebounds with 15 and nine. Hepting was the other Cardinal to finish in double-figures with 12 while also pulling down seven rebounds.
Catholic is back in action on Saturday, February 14 for a showdown with Drew on the road. Tipoff is set for 2 pm at Baldwin Gymnasium.
